Friday, 10 June 2011

Commitment Profile: Tom Strobel

Name: Tom Strobel

Location: Mentor, OH

Position: DE

Ratings: ESPN – 3* (78), Scout – 4*, 247 Sports - 4*

Recruitment: Like most Ohio kids, he grew up a Buckeye, and once he got that OSU offer, most people thought that would be that. However Strobel gave Michigan a chance to impress and they scored very highly on his visit, especially with their academics. In the mean time, OSU was in meltdown, which no doubt helped the Wolverines. UM already had a few DE’s on board, so Strobel had to act quickly, committing probably at least a month or so before he would have originally planned.

Stats: Currently stands at 6’6 and 250lbs, with an estimated forty yard dash of 4.9 seconds. As a junior he made 37 tackles (5 for loss) with two sacks and two forced fumbles.

ESPN Analysis: Strobel is a defensive end prospect with good size. He is a tall kid with solid bulk and he displays the room to add more good size with time in a college weight program. He gets off the ball well. For a taller kid he displays the ability to play with some bend and keep solid pad level.

He’s got good reach and uses it well it maintain separation from his blockers; also helps him to shed blockers. Possesses solid speed and works hard to get to the ball no matter what. Has good size and should be stout against the run in college, but will need to work on his pass rushing skills to become a more rounded defensive end.

Scout Analysis: None available.

Improvements: Expand pass rushing arsenal, needs to have a ‘plan of attack’ in pass rushing. i.e adapting to what the OL shows.

Final Thoughts: Strobel is listed as a weakside DE on some sites, but given his size and style of play, I’d say he looks more like a college strongside. The stats from his junior year won’t blow you away, but there’s a lot of reason for optimism given his offer sheet and some of his ratings – i.e a top 250 player on 247sports.

Strobel should be ready to compete in college quite quickly given his size, but Michigan should have a few younger DE’s stepping up in front of him, so a redshirt is probable. He has a good work ethic though, and is more highly regarded than some of the previous year’s DE’s, so he could earn his way into the rotation sooner rather than later.

As for DE recruiting; personally I’d only like to see one more in this class, and that would be Chris Wormley. However I think the UM coaches would be awfully tempted to take a 6th DE if his name was Adolphus Washington, or Se’Von Pittman.